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Cold As Ice: Iceman’s Coolest Moments

Iceman’s all grown up! After fighting alongside the rest of the X-Men for the first time and coming into his own in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand,” actor Shawn Ashmore recently told CBR that this year’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past” finds his character in a much different place. “Bobby is a soldier now. Straight up,” said Ashmore. “Bobby has matured physically. Obviously, as you age as an actor, you get to bring that to the screen. But, he’s also a soldier. There’s no messing around, anymore.”

This will come as good news for Ice-fans disappointed that their favorite X-Man sat on the sidelines for both “X-Men” and “X2: X-Men United.” Judging by Ashmore’s comments and Bobby Drake’s expanded role in the recent “Days of Future Past” trailer, where he even rides an ice slide, it looks like this version of Iceman will be the coolest to date. But let’s not forget that the comic book iteration of the hero has also had his fair share of “solider” moments.

Even though he’d been played as the immature comic relief of the team, young Bobby still managed to hold his own against the X-Men’s deadliest enemy — Magneto! 1966’s “X-Men” #18 starts with the rest of his teammates incapacitated and the X-Mansion taken over by Magneto. Iceman used his limited training to keep the Master of Magnetism distracted long enough for the X-Men to break their way out of their prison balloon. Yeah, it was the ’60s.

Putting Legion On Ice

With the fate of all reality hinging on a battle between Charles Xavier’s time-traveling son Legion and a young Magneto, the small squad of X-Men sent to prevent disaster had to push themselves past their comfort level. In “X-Men” #41 from 1995, Iceman tried a trick for the first time — freezing every molecule of water in Legion’s body. The attack encased Legion in a thick layer of ice, thus cutting off his incredible power surge. For a little while, at least. Legion was partly pyrokinetic after all.

Operation: Zero Tolerance

In 1997’s “X-Men” #66, Iceman proved his chops as a solo hero by putting up a strong defense against a government-sponsored war on mutants. Charged with protecting the stubbornly reluctant Cecilia Reyes from the technologically advanced Prime Sentinels, Iceman had to be inspirational on top of strategic and efficient. He saved Reyes’ life against the deadliest Sentinels ever created, and then talked the new mutant off of an emotional ledge. All in a day’s work for the X-Men’s class clown.

Holy Iceman

As an army of vampires launched an attacked on the X-Men’s island headquarters in 2010’s “X-Men” #5, Cyclops thought outside the box and had a priest bless Iceman’s body. This turned Iceman into walking Holy water, thus allowing him to bring swift — and permanent — death to the team’s undead assailants. Even after years as an X-Man, Iceman still had new tricks up his icy sleeve.

Makin’ Ice Copies

Iceman made his most impressive move to date in 2012’s “Wolverine and the X-Men” #2. With the fresh-faced Hellfire Club unleashing an army of monsters on the newly opened Jean Grey School, Iceman was left with no choice but to follow his impulse. He tapped some of that potential and created an army of ice minions to back up his teammates in their fight against Wendigo, Sauron, Krakoa and Frankenstein bikers.